It is absolutely appalling that the xenophobic comments by the user 'In the long run' are the two most recommended comments on this board. It is so incongruent to the Economist readership's self-professed values of classical liberalism, that I have to suspect 'In the long run' recommending his own comments up.

'In the long run', no one suggests letting a billion Indians and another billion Chinese into the United States. In fact, the article is advocating quite the opposite - streamlining the immigration system so that the best and the brightest will gain easy access. Your choice to set up a straw man, which you viciously attack, only shows that you really have no rational argument against sensible immigration policies, and merely wish to indulge your racism and xenophobia.

You also blithely claim that an exodus of non-white immigrants have harmed cohesion of the American society, which betrays your utter historical ignorance. When America was whiter, it was riven with far more serious conflicts amongst different European ethnicities (no Irish need apply, anyone?), amongst different Christian denominations, and of course, by regional rivalries between the North and the South. If that's cohesion in the world of 'In the long run', I hate to think what his definition of disunity is!

Grow some sense, old boy. You are full of humbug, and I'd rather take any of the Indian gentlemen mentioned in the article as a compatriot than you.

PS. Your decision to compare 21st century immigrants to Germanic invaders of the Roman empire is also inaccurate for several reasons, one of them being that the 21st century immigrants don't come to the US armed and ready to pillage.

Furthermore, did you know that the strength of the Roman military from the 3rd century depended on recruits from these Germanic peoples coming OUTSIDE of the empire (not to mention non-Italians residing inside the imperial borders), and that the empire would not have been defended without this source of manpower? The two last western Roman patriots, Stilicho and Aetius, were both of barbarian descent. Something to think about.

While this argument might have some legs when talking about unskilled laborers (although I would still doubt it), I has virtually no grounding when speaking of highly skilled labouerers.

Some years ago I did graduate work in a top-ranking American university, where it became obvious to me that, while that all students had their own quirks, it was easy to befriend them and collaborate with them.

The reason for that is that highly skilled laborers (eg. businessmen, scientists, diplomats, and government officials) adhere to some kind of international culture, that allows them to seat at the same table, and work towards a common goal, regardless of national origin.

At the very least, it should be obvious to everybody that highly skilled laborers have a lot more in common between them, than your average democrat and republican congressman, or between the average consultant, and the average plumber.

Not only is US immigration policy insanely self-harming but even when it supposedly "works" it is so ineptly carried out by people who are utterly incapable of achieving even sub-mediocrity that the overall impact is to destroy opportunity and value on a massive scale. I have, in my life, had to work with the US immigration authorities on three separate occasions. Each time the degree of apathy, incompetence, indolence, stupidity and ineptitude has been beyond belief. USCIS officials have broken processes that never get fixed. They throw away documents as a matter of routine and then say that it's up to the petitioner to provide new ones - not easy when the government has just tossed your originals (copies not accepted, of course) into the trash. It's not uncommon to see restaurants and other small businesses using tag-lines like "Serving customers proudly since 1978" and similar sentiments. I propose the US government should adopt the tag-line: "Squandering your time and money since 1886." At least then we'd all be clear about what is really happening, on a vast scale, every single day (except weekends, public holidays, and other paid time-off).

We need to just open the flood gates and let in all immigrants. India and China's "best and brightest" and "highly skilled" will rescue our economy the same way the huns and visigoths "rescued" the Roman Empire. If all the world's 6.7B people outside the US want to immigrate to the US, so much the better. Come one come all! Everyone is a winner, every immigrant is best and brightest, highly skilled. Every ethnic group should also seek to retain their cultural and linguistic heritage so we can continue to be multicultural. Assimilation is for the racists. To celebrate our diversity, our voting ballots will be printed in 125 different languages.

The larger the immigrant group, the longer it takes to assimilate. Over immigration the last 2 decades has turned the US into a fractious society with less and less common values and social cohesion. The more Asians, Central/Latin Americans, Africans, Eastern Europeans, Middle Easterners we import, the more the US will look like these countries and regions. Is that what we want?

Yes, I understand the difficulties underlying your sarcastic post and the more straight one of 'Kanga' below.

But then at different stages of American history, there have been upheavels for existing communities, starting from the Amerindians, running through waves of immigrants, mostly from Europe but distinct linguistic and religious communities and the impact on pre-existing people.

The world is aware of how welcoming the USA has so far been towards immingrants from such diverse backgrounds. No other country can match that in the entire history of human kind.

However, as Wadhwa's book makes it clear, immigrants are not welcome any longer and are, therefore, leaving the USA. That is what you want, right?

I have been saying to many Indian and Chinese friends (especially to those not in the medical field) for over two decades that conditions in the USA will worsen for them. The tremendous sacrifices they were making for the 'green card' were not worth it.

There is a halo of glamour that Asians, in particular, feel for the USA. Reality does not justify that halo.

Please note that even in the past, influential Empires had attracted diverse peoples to live under their umbrella - Pax Romana, Pax Brittania and so on.

In her hayday, Rome had many different groups of merchants, soldiers and skilled artisans, contributing to Roman Empire's prosperity. The visigoths and Huns did NOT come as immigrants. They came armed for plunder.

Incidentally, I agree with CA-Oxonian below on the ways of the US bureaucracy. I am not keen to deal with them. It is easier for me to cajole India's bureaucracy into the slot than the American one.

Yet, I acknowledge the USA to be, for the present, the only super-power in technology and innovation.

Economic factors shouild not be the sole criterion for letting immigrants in. Australia, for example. works towards a defined future population target based on quality of life and social cohesion factors. Too many migrants of markedly different cultures leads to assimilation difficulties. The US already has a very large population of culturally dissimilar people which it now has difficulties assimilating with undocumented migrants keeping wages low. The US is in danger of losing the glue which binds society together and becoming a fragmented multi-lingual country where no culture holds sufficient sway! Interestingly disparate cultures breed their own problems re differential birth rates, schooling, religon issues etc

By the way, unlike India, most of American wealth is created immigrants. For last few years, I am working for American companies from India.
My last boss was from Greece. he and his friend from Russia invented a new technique to cancel echo for digitied voice. That technique helped create American wealth worth 100 million dollars! The team that created it consisted of 60 people from around the world, only two of them were American citizens!!
Now I worked for another American company, cofounded by an Indian. This company created around 5 billion dollar worth of American wealth. Half of these people are from India and China.
So next time you see an Indian and Chinese in your country, kneel and than thank her for providing you with your prosperity. You owe it to them, America.

Re the article on Mr. Vivek Wadhwa's new book, The Immigrant Exodus" and his supposed "righteous anger" over U.S. immigration policies, allow me to present an opposing view from an American. I am sure that Mr. Wadhwa is a fine, talented person. I wish him well. That does not mean that my fellow Americans are necessarily eager to have him and 100,000,000 of his closest friends and relatives as permanent guests in our country. Believe it or not, while the U.S. has usually welcomed immigrants we have usually done it in a common sense way. We will decide who we want to have come to our country and, frankly, if some foreigners are not welcome to stay here permanently, that is just too bad. They have their own countries to stay in. And in in response they choose to bar me from entry to India, for example, I guess I will just have to gut it out and take it. My feelings wil be hurt but I won't "whinge" about it.
To read recent articles on the theme one would think that before millions of Indians, Chinese and what not were allowed to flood into our country we were living in mud huts, grubbing for worms to eat, and wandering about in a stupor waiting for salvation. The fact is, we managed quite well without them. If these folks are so indispensable for our future, I have to wonder why on earth they would leave their own countries, which are full of bright, talented, tolerant people just like them. Is there something lacking back home?
To tell the truth, the very people in the U.S. (and, I suspect, Great Britain) who worked to destroy our immigration systems and flood our countries with these folks are also the ones who have done so much to undermine our cultures, public school systems, national unity and just about everything else worth having. In our case there was a planned, calculated effort by certain interest groups to do this and it resulted in the 1965 immigration law. The results are now here for all to see and may well eventually lead to civil war or the disintegration of my country. The responsible parties should not think their handiwork has gone unnoticed.
While trying to enjoy the sun at my community center the other day one of Mr. Wadha's fellow countrymen, a man grown prosperous in my country, casually spat a huge gob of phlegm into the swimming pool. He was astonished when some of us objected as such behavior is evidently common in his hometown.
Before Mr. Wadha lets his "righteous anger" get the better of him I recommend that he ponder this issue with rather more care. Perhaps there is a reason we want our country for ourselves and our children. I, for one, have no interest in giving away their birthright for the convenience and profit of the Wadha's of the world. Whether or not he can contribute to the bottom line of some corporation matters not a whit to me. Our country is not a slot machine, a shopping center or a open air beer bash which anybody can attend to buy a raffle ticket.
Let me add in closing that the article on South Africa in this issue is by turns pathetic and hilarious, coming out of The Economist. Some say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. It seems you were expecting a different result in South Africa. Too bad. South Africa is finished, as well it should be. You put a gang of blood-thirsty, ignorant Communist terrorists in charge of a modern state. What were expecting? Switzerland? They will loot it dry and then land on your doorstep, along with Mr. Wadha.

"Anti-immigrant rhetoric from Republicans is putting off many well educated immigrants."

You mean anti-illegal immigrant rhetoric from Republicans? I have yet to hear too many Republicans in a position of power say anything against legal skilled immigrants. Oh, and there are pretty much no "well-educated" illegal immigrants. I am very familiar with this liberal trick of confusing the word "immigrant" when it suits them.

Just like Obama when talking about the plight of the illegal immigrants in the US will suddenly start talking about all the successes of immigration such as nobel prize winners and silicon valley entrepreneurs. Except, not a single nobel prize winner or silicon valley technologist is an illegal immigrant. Let's be honest and real please.

Sadly, the only appetite in America, if any, is to legalize all the illegal immigrants. No one could care less about the plight of skilled workers. I have lived it.

There are always winners and losers. I teach high-school (inner city) and see a lot of winners. I taught Hispanic immigrants for many years and their parents were some of the hardest working people in America. My current school has a mixture of immigrants and here are a few:

* A girl from VN who arrived in America two years ago ON HER OWN and just made NHS and has a 3.9 GPA (it has slipped a bit this semester -- she is enrolled in Honors Calculus, Honors Biology and Honors Chemistry.) She speaks fluent English.

* A girl from Congo. She speaks four languages fluently (including French and English) as well as four or five African dialects. She is in my Honors History class and, as usual, doing just fine.

* A Dutch immigrant who is also in my Honors History class and SHE is doing just fine too.

Meanwhile, my urban area is digesting new plane loads of immigrants from Asia and the Middle East. They work, vote and obey the law.

But, it is all hard on the low-wage, native-born Americans. I can be la-de-da and full of enthusiasm for these new arrivals (and I am!) because I don't compete with them for jobs. I don't have to worry about like being a "stranger" in my own culture because I live in a neighborhood of million dollar homes and no one who waded the Rio Granda is likely to move in next-door. But, for those Americans who have only a high-school education there is a race to the bottom underway as these new arrivals eagerly push them aside in their willingness to accept low wages.

There is also a real impact on certain areas of our region in terms of schools and demand for services. The federal government for political reasons (Democrats want the Hispanic vote) essentially imports poverty and then lets the local taxpayers pay the price necessary to provide social services for people who aren't supposed to be here in the first place.

Look at the bottom of the balance sheet and immigrants strengthen the bottom line. They are, after all, just people. But, the local impact of this immigration can be a financial burden that Washington causes but refuses to finance. And, there are plenty of Americans at the bottom of the wage scale who are being pushed further down by this avalanche of illegal labor.

Winners and losers and, overwhelmingly, the country is the winner. But, there are losers -- and they aren't necessarily bigots or cultural chauvinists. Let's take note of THEIR plight, even while we enjoy feel-good sentimentality over welcoming the strangers in our midst. Charity begins at home.

Is White America not already fractious? The very act of fearing immigrants is probably a major contribution to their lack of assimilation. If we welcomed them into our communities, they wouldn't be as insulated amongst their own.

All of the meaningful information in this summary is lost on the average American and the politicians who must please their average American constituents. It is part of American history that each economic downturn results in average Americans calling for the restriction of immigrants, whom they misguidedly believe are responsible for a lack of job opportunities and draining welfare benefits.

Although nothing can be further from the truth, this small-minded thinking is repeated over and over again. Politicians seem to find working on border controls and immigration issues easy pickins to appease the general public when they begin to complain loudly.

The general population of the US fails to understand that it is only WITH bright, talented, ambitious, driven and well-educated immigrants that their status rises. In America, there is room for the red-blooded American that wants to succeed and the immigrant who also wants to succeed. The result is a more prosperous America with more opportunities for everyone.

Human nature being what it is and will always be, in times of want and need or fear in the US, immigrants will always be sacrificed, to our own peril.

And one more thing, everyday, I feel the urge to leave my job and start my own business. They day all the pleople like us who help create wealth for America turn away, That will be the end of American prosperity. Then you can live in you beautiful homogenous cultural paradisise, where no asian and mexican will ever bother you.

I'm a graduate student in a STEM field and I can see this quite clearly. The Chinese, Indian, Korean, and Japanese students we have will learn valuable skills not truly available anywhere else in the world. They will publish, experiment, and learn. For an American or European, we will be given the red carpet treatment for private industry upon graduation. We will get generous salaries, great benefits, and high-quality healthcare.

The foreign students will not have that. Few companies are willing to deal with the hassle associated with sponsoring citizenship, and the amount of time invested in the citizenship process. It's ridiculous. Also the assumption that these foreign students are taking American jobs is hilarious. There aren't enough people for the number of positions that open up each year. This is a fact. We don't graduate enough engineers, physicians, or BMS people to fill the number of jobs that open up each year. I mean, pharmacists and physicians have a lot of foreign-born in their ranks, have their salaries decreased?

Despite the salivating xenophobia exhibited by some commenters below and on the Right, the sad state of our current immigration practices has visible and detrimental impacts on our economy. Despite both sides of the aisle clamoring about the need for innovation in our economy, actions speak far louder than words.

Separating Fact and Fiction:
Fact: "Our immigration policy is hobbled by bad experiences" - very true. Try going through the hoops.
Fiction: " H1-Bs (recruiting workers from India to displace American programmers, at lower wages)" - Programming can be done easily outside US and hence will be done wherever it is cheap. No self-respecting outsourcing company brings Indians to displace workers here. Even with the supposed lower wages, it IS STILL cheaper to program in India.
Fact: "inability to take a forceful stand"
Fiction: "the ongoing flood from Mexico, Central, and South America." - illegal immigration is at it lowest in decades.
Every single American company has either back-offices or has business partners in Asia. Their center-piece of investment portfolio is Asia. There is no such thing called an American job anymore.

what assimilation are we talking about here? Speaking in English (?) - bah! - the average immigrant student doing under grad/grad has probably twice as much vocabulary and impeccable grammar than your average US citizen. Penalize them for being good in English. Due to the super competitive environment in their home countries, they are extremely hard working and diligent - again, Penalize them.
But they are stealing our jobs which by birth-right is ours (sigh). You guys truly believe that the blue-blooded American companies which have now morphed into multi-nationals really care about American jobs (silly you!). Have you heard about the concept of work-from-home which is become more prevalent and trendy now-a-days? And also about how huge the chinese and Indian markets are becoming? Any job that can be done outside the US, can and will be done outside US and that includes innovation. It is just sad that such a great country like US has fallen so much.

What pains me is this, why are my countrymen such beggers! Praying for a GREENCARD? Give me a break! Don't you have anything better to pray for? I am not a religious man. I never pray. But if I ever pray, I hope I will pray something more worthy than a green card.

You have ahome my dear freinds. Stay home and do something worthy of your honour than wash dishes for the white people. Yes it's not clean, it look like slum, IT'S NOT AMERICA. But it is home. It is our home.

Well the new generation of immigrants (and you are all immigrants and sons of immigrants, whether you like it or not) are too easily outcompeting you (even playing with your biased rules). This is because you are either too lazy or too dim to pose them any kind of real competition.

The truth is that in anything resembling a level playing field, in the long run, the cream will rise to the top and the the losers will only be able to cry about it. The perfect example of this would be how a black man became president of America and insignificant racists are still having a great deal of difficulty dealing with this fact.